


Part of the Fam

by JustAndrea



Series: Mikey, Michika and Hueso Jr Stories [2]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Backstory, Conversations, Cooking, Gen, Hanging Out, Not abusive but not great either so just a heads up, Not entirely sure how to tag Michi's relationship with her parents, Semi-Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21832201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: (Related to 'A New Pizza Slice on Life')That moment when just hanging out becomes something a bit deeper.When you realize just how much you care for someone.When you wonder what could have beenAnd when you wonder what could be.
Relationships: Michelangelo (TMNT) & Original Female Character, Michelangelo (TMNT) & his fam
Series: Mikey, Michika and Hueso Jr Stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823638
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Part of the Fam

**Author's Note:**

> Like the summary says, this oneshot is related to my TMNT Big Bang fic 'A New Pizza Slice of Life'. Mostly I just wanted to expand on one of my OCs from that story, my kappa-girl Michika, and her relationship with Mikey. You don't really need to read that story to understand this one, but if you want to know more about Mikey and Michi's relationship/their history, I'd suggest at least reading chapters 3, 5, and the second half of Chapter 9 if you don't want to read the whole thing.
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy! ^v^

Michi licked her beak slightly as she watched the box turtle work. Each cut he made brought the sound of crisp lettuce and the slight splash of water. So refreshing... so light and crispy!

In a flash, she reached across the counter, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge of the junior chef’s blade and she snatched a small handful of chopped napa cabbage.

“Michiiiii!” Mikey pouted, “I would’a given you a sample taste if you had just waited.”

“Couldn’t wait,” Michika said simply in-between her chewing. Swallowing, she then watched Mikey put the rest of the cabbage into a big plastic bowl. “So, what’s this you’re making called again?”

“Coleslaw,” Mikey told her, smiling now, “Usually you have it at barbeques, but it’s good enough to have on its own, and we can eat the leftovers with supper tonight.” Michi had been over to the lair enough times now to know that 75% of all Jitsu Family suppers were pizza or pizza-esque, so she didn’t bother asking what they were going to have. “Besides, I figured it’d be something you would like.”

“Ah. ...Cooould we put cucumber in it?”

“Sure!” It wasn’t part of a traditional coleslaw recipe, but as far as Mikey was concerned, tradition and recipes could be saved for his shifts at Run of the Mill. But when it came to cooking at home, Mikey was happily willing to experiment and substitute and add and try every idea that popped into his little green head. That was what cooking was really about, right?

Well, that and making good food to share. After quickly grabbing a couple cucumbers and cutting up both them and the carrots, he got out another bowl. “Okay, so next we’ll want to prep the dressing.”

“You mean this mayo stuff?” Michi asked, poking the bright blue lid of the small mayonnaise jar.

“That’s the base of it, yeah.”

“It almost looks like marshmallow…” She squinted her eyes a bit at the slight yellow tint to the condiment. “Spoiled marshmallow.” 

“It’s kinda fluffy like marshmallow, yeah, but it’s also kinda savory,” Mikey told her, grabbing the jar. With one twist, he popped the lid off with ease, and then poured what he estimated to be about two or three big spoonfuls into his second bowl. 

Next was all the stuff needed to really make it a dressing - apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, a bit of dijon mustard, and some celery seeds for texture. “You want me to explain what all this stuff adds to it?”

Michi smirked a bit at that. She was admittedly a little interested in the cooking process, if only because Mikey was so darn enthusiastic and excited about it that he just made it seem interesting. Still, another part of her was amused at a boy who was half a year younger than her trying to act all teacherly.

“If you really want to,” she told him as she snuck a cucumber slice out of the other bowl, “Explain away Professor-Chef Mikaboo!”

Mikey’s expression flattened a bit at that. “What does that nickname mean anyway?”

“That’s for me to know and you to _maybe_ find out~”

“Hmph,” he pouted. Michi was so weird… But hey, so was he. Letting the strange nickname go for now, Mikey continued on the dressing, explaining all the flavors he was adding while still giving a bit of razzmatazz as he poured, tossed or sprinkled things in. 

After mixing it all together and taste testing it a couple times, Mikey finally deemed it perfect and ready to eat. “The cucumbers added a bit of extra water, but it’s all still pretty crispy and crunchy, not soggy at all!” he said as he filled their bowls, making sure to put extra in Michi’s bowl. For someone smaller than him, she sure could pack it away. 

He watched closely as Michika took her first bite. The kappa chewed, her eyes widening a bit at all the new flavors. “...This is REALLY good!” she said suddenly, not even trying to hide it with her usually bratty banter, before going in for another great spoonful. 

The orange turtle grinned brightly at her. “Thanks!” he said before digging in himself.

About halfway through their snack, Raph wandered into the kitchen. “Hey Mike, hey Michika,” the snapper waved, “You guys cooked somethin’?”

“Yeah, we made coleslaw!” Mikey replied, holding up his bowl.

Raph raised an eyebrow at that. “Coleslaw is a snack food now?”

“It can be!”

“Oh… Okay then.” Raph tried to hide his disappointment - he had been hoping his little brother had been cooking up something like that sticky caramel-popcorn he made the week before or some pizza puffs or something like that.

Still, Mikey noticed and gestured to the fridge. “Pretty sure there’s still some chicken masala from the other day in there. A couple pudding cups too.”

“...Raph could go for some chicken and curry,” he decided, “Thanks Mikey.” 

“No problem!” The two brothers exchanged a fist bump as Raph walked over to the fridge. A quick zap in the microwave and a goodbye later, and it was back to being the two of them.

Michi glanced down at the tiny bit of mayo-covered lettuce, poking it slightly with her fork. It was strange… She didn’t care about cooking food that much - or at the very least, she didn’t care about cooking it as much as she did eating it. Coming into the sewers, her plan had been to just hang out with Mikey. Convince him to pull a couple pranks with her, watch some tv, steal some snacks, maybe even go for a swim in the small moat they had in the middle of their home. 

But then Mikey had suggested making themselves a snack, being so excited about his coleslaw idea, and now… She didn’t care about cooking, so why was she kind of sad that they wouldn’t be doing anymore?

“...My pop just got groceries,” Mikey said suddenly, nudging her slightly with his elbow to get her attention, “And we managed to get a great haul too, since I guess a lot of things were on sale, and the stuff that wasn’t also wasn’t too rotten yet.” He then gave her an encouraging smile as he asked, “You wanna make something else?”

“...Tc’ch, what, you’re trying to make me into your sous chef or something?” Michi asked, though there wasn’t any bite behind her question.

Mikey still chuckled slightly at it. “Hey, just an idea…”

The kappa thought about it before eventually asking, “You know how to make a good dessert?” Mikey’s confident, cheerful smile told her everything she needed to know.

The two ended up settling on strawberry cupcakes, since a jar of strawberry jam was one of the first things they found. Michi, much to her delight, also found a container of already-cubed watermelon, and Mikey had no problem finding a spot for it in their dessert. 

As each ingredient went into the bowl and the flavor of their fruit-hybrid cupcakes was experimented with, the two thirteen year olds continued to lightly chat. Michi proudly told the story of how she managed to get three different Hidden City bakers chasing after her after swiping just one donut (“Aaaand maybe taking a bite out of a few others…”) while Mikey recounted the battle he and his brothers had against the Sandro Bros. just the other week (“Every time I see those guys, I kinda feel like making seafood. Is that weird? I think it’s just the smell of crab.”). 

When it came time to mix, Michi decided that Mikey couldn’t be the only one showing off his strong arm muscles, and had begun to mix their batter before her cooking partner could even start looking for the hand mixer. However in her enthusiasm, she ended up splashing a bit of pink batter right onto Mikey’s chest. This in turn led to a mini food fight between them, with Michi threatening to completely splatter Mikey with cupcake mix, her dripping whisk-weapon already in hand, while Mikey was just trying to get revenge by booping her on the beak with his flour-covered hands.

A bit of laughter and a bit of a mess later and the two teens agreed to a truce, allowing their cupcakes to safely make it into the oven. And, after cleaning the splattered batter and flour off the floor and counter, they got to work on their frosting. “Buttercream or cream cheese?” Mikey asked.

“Uhh… Is there a big difference?” Michi replied.

“Eh, we can just make both,” he shrugged, “I kinda wanted to make the buttercream chocolate anyway. This way, there’ll be two totally different flavors that both go great with strawberry and watermelon!”

“Heh, if you say so, Orange Spice.”

A sweet smell grew from the oven as they continued to work, quickly catching the attention of the rest of Mikey’s family. By the time the cupcakes were cooled, frosted and decorated, it was nearly suppertime. 

However, since they didn’t exactly have the room to cook anything else, what with all the dishes now currently in the sink, Leo volunteered to portal over to Run of the Mill for pizza and breadsticks to go. ( _Employee discount babyyyyy_ ) Everyone else worked to set the table while Splinter, under the specific request of Michi, prepared some green tea. The kappa also took it upon herself to finish off their leftover coleslaw. 

It truly was a good meal, but then again that was to be expected. She always had good meals when she was with Mikey… It was kind of strange though. Food was just food, and while she certainly had her favorite dishes and flavors, Michi had never been too picky. Whatever she could get her webbed hands on, that’s what she ate, and she always enjoyed it well enough. So if that was still the case, why was she paying so much attention to the flavors now, just because a friend was specifically making her food?

Whatever the reason, Michi was too lazy to think about it now, so she just pushed it to the back of her mind as she leaned back in her chair, her floppy straw hat hiding her eyes. “Man, I’m stuffed.”

“Same here,” Mikey nodded, sighing a bit. As the rest of his family began to file out, making sure to give compliments to their orange chef as they did, Mikey turned to her. “You wanna go chill somewhere?” Michi nodded, more than ready to lay down and stretch out some.

Of course, for a kappa, there was only one place they could safely do those things…

She wasn’t sure how they were able to find a spot with clean water in the sewers, and frankly Michi didn’t care. She just made sure to enjoy it as she and Mikey floated beside each other in the atrium’s small moat. As she looked up towards the upper levels of the lair - at all the fairy lights that danced along the concrete walls, and finally up at the stars she spotted through their home’s skylight - a question popped into her head.

“...Do you ever get tired of cooking for your family, or for other people?”

“Hm? Nah,” Mikey replied, “I mean, I’m gonna have fun cookin’ no matter what it is or who I’m doin’ it for.”

“So it doesn’t feel like they’re using you as their own personal chef?”

“Nah,” he repeated, “I mean, Splinter cooked our meals before I got into it, so it wasn’t like he forced me to start cooking our family meals, and I’m sure he’d take it up again if I decided to quit cooking for whatever reason. And my brothers and April don’t try to make me cook something specific unless they’re really craving it, otherwise I get to choose my own menus.” 

While his family maybe didn’t always enjoy the surprises Mikey sometimes prepared - Leo still had a small grudge against him from the week where he had made nothing but brussel sprout dishes - they still granted him the freedom to make and cook whatever he wanted. “It’s fun, and I like making them happy with my food, you know?”

Michi giggled. “Yeah, that sounds like the sort of answer a goodie-goodie like you would give. Knowing you, you’d probably try to feed everyone in the two cities if you could - humans and yokai.”

While he did splash her slightly for the ‘goodie goodie’ comment, Mikey didn’t deny the second one. “A city-wide restaurant would be pretty rad. And it’d be the first of its kind too! Not even Rupert Swaggart has done something like that!”

“Who?”

“Oh, some celebrity master chef. Kind of a huge jerk, got mutated into a giant pig,” Mikey shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. 

“Oh yeah, that guy. I swiped a pork chop from his food truck once. He chased after me, saying how he was going to turn me into ‘turtle girl soup’.” She patted the water gun floating beside her. “So I soaked him and then tricked him into falling into a dumpster. Wet AND smelly.”

“Iiiii’m not going to pretend like he doesn’t probably deserve that.” The two teens shared a laugh at that.

As they settled back down, Michi continued to stare up at the Jitsu family home’s tall ceiling. “...I can’t even remember what my family cooked for me. Probably soba noodles and anything with cucumbers and mushrooms…”

“...” Splashing the water a bit, Mikey turned himself over, allowing himself to float on his stomach while he rested his arms and head on one of the nearby pool floaties. “...Do you remember anything else about them?” he asked quietly. 

“Not a ton… Just normal parent stuff. They would yell, be bossy… but they would be nice sometimes too. I remember this one time my dad buying me a silk dress, for like a family photo or something, and then yelling at me when I got it all covered in mud.” She sighed, waving her webbed hand through the water, its movement as slow and graceful as a fish.

“I know they cared about me, patched me up when I got hurt and made sure I got fed and stuff like that but, I don’t know if they really liked me much,” she continued, “There was this one time, I was feeling all wound up because we were on the road traveling to a village and we were resting the city. I ran off - again - and this time I ended up finding a candy shop. One of those really high end ones, the ones that sold candy that let you breathe fire for an hour or turn you invisible or make everything taste like gold. Of course, I just had to take the most expensive treats in the whole shop, and the owner - this really butch, really tough-looking jorogumo, total opposite of what you’d expect a candy maker to look like - she was really mad.

“Of course, I wasn’t as fast or as clever back in those days, and with her webs she had no problems catching me. When she finally found my mom and made her pay for the candy I stole… Boy, she was even madder. Told me that if I ever ran off and stole from anyone again, she’d dump out all of the water in my head and leave me somewhere until I learned my lesson.”

Mikey’s eyes widened as his hand gripped the pool floaty slightly. “That’s… awful.” He knew parents could be harsh sometimes - Splinter had the habit of giving them a quick chop to the head or a good smack with his tail when they got really out of line, but Mikey knew that their dad would never EVER just leave one of them somewhere totally helpless and completely alone. 

“Yeah, but I don’t think she meant it though, one of those ‘heat of the moment’ things,” Michi told him, “She never brought it up again, even when I acted up. We kappas have no problems messing with humans or other yokai when we have to, but we don’t really hurt each other.” A sort of kappa code as it were. (Kappa kode? Whatever.) “Still, she and my dad did everything they could to try and keep me from running off. Bribes, threats, one of those annoying kid-leashes-”

“Oh yeah, Pop had a couple of those-”

“But I’d always slip away. Because I hated being dragged around, being told what to do and not being able to see or do the things that I wanted. Didn’t really help that my parents didn’t even try to be fun. We just didn’t see eye-to-eye, and then one day, they didn’t come looking for me. Or I just wasn’t able to find them, whatever perspective you wanna go with.”

Mikey frowned. He floated over to her, giving her a small poke on the shoulder. “...I’m sorry.”

The kappa shrugged. “It is what it is… Though I do blame you for- all of this,” she said, waving her hands a bit through the air, “I don’t usually- This isn’t something I talk about. At all. But then… I see you with your brothers and dad and human sister-” And the metal, flying turtle and the man made out of paper, the Googlyschmootz girl, and now there was a giant fish girl that stopped by sometimes. “All this family and how well you all get along and how you actually want to be around each other and I dunno…”

Tucking herself in, she let herself float down and off her back, giving her a chance to stand up. Once her head was back above water, she put her own arms on the pool floaty, resting her head on the bright yellow, slightly-smelly plastic. Only a bit of her bowl-water dripped out, but she didn’t mind. She was in her element, she was safe - even if the topic at hand was unfamiliar.

“I guess I miss them but, also kinda don’t? I still like being on my own and doing my own thing but… I guess I’m just wondering more what could have been, you know? If I had stuck around or if they had searched for me that one last time, would we eventually start liking each other like you guys, or would we have just ended up totally hating each other?”

Mikey was silent for several seconds, his fingers gently combing the dark-brown, stringy hairs that made up the ends of one of her pigtails. “I don’t know,” he said finally, honestly. He had a feeling she didn’t want an answer anyway, just someone to listen. 

Michi seemed to agree with this, giving a small nod. “Yeah, me neither…”

“...People have different definitions of family though,” Mikey continued as he continued to lightly pull and comb her hair, “You don’t have to be part of a family through blood, or even through adoption. Sometimes it’s just enough to be there, to have that connection. I don’t know about my brothers but a lot of our friends I kinda consider family. Not in a super deep way, not like I’ve known them my whole life, but enough that I want to help ‘em out and be there for them and have fun with them.”

“...Pretty sure that’s called just having a friend, Mikey.”

“Like I said, different definitions for different people.”

Sitting up a bit, Michi looked him in the eyes, and Mikey gave her a gentle smile in return. “You could be a part of the fam too, if you want. No obligation, and we wouldn’t tell you what to do or how often to visit. You could come and go as often as you’d like, like Piebald and April do, and we would just be right here whenever you’d need us.”

Michi hummed, her eyes moving to stare at the water. “...That does sound like a good deal,” she admitted, “But I still may need some time to think about it.” Friends were one thing, but family still had too many conditions and baggage - at least in her mind.

Thankfully, like with most things, Mikey wasn’t too bothered by this. “Fair enough. You wanna go play in the arcade before you have to get out of here? Donnie fixed the air hockey table.”

“...Yeah, okay. I’m getting tired of all this… feelings talk anyway, I could definitely go for some arcade games.” Mikey chuckled, and they swam over to the edge of the moat, pulling themselves out with ease. While her shorts would dry soon enough, Michi took the time to wring out the skirt of her denim dress, just so it wouldn’t drip all over the lair, before putting her straw hat back on. “I wanna grab another one of those cupcakes too.”

The orange turtle snorted at that. “Girl, are you ever not hungry?”

“Some people call it charming,” Michi grinned. Mikey stuck his tongue out at her, and Michika nearly shoved him back into the water. They laughed, chasing after each other and trying to ‘attack’ one another as they made their way back up the skate ramp and to the kitchen. 

Family or not, Michi liked the lair. She liked the food they cooked and ate there. She liked the games they could play and the tv they could watch, the concept of the latter still a bit of a novelty to her. She liked Mikey, and she liked how comfortable she could feel around him.

It was still a strong word to associate with this whole situation, almost too strong in her opinion… But Michi wasn’t afraid of most things, and if it meant more nights like this without any real consequences, then maybe she would be okay with testing the waters just a little.

**THE END**


End file.
